I think it could work. But to work it would need to have teams and allow drafting on the bike. The 'stages' would include different distances and not holding to the 'standard' leg distance.

Eg - stage 1 might be an individual TT (prologue) sprint distance tri. Stage 2 might have a 4km swim, 20k bike and 5k run. Stage 3 might be a 1.5k swim, 180k bike with a big climb in the middle and 10k run. Stage 4 might be a 400m swim, 20k bike, followed by a marathon. Stage 5 might be an ITT over a standard Olympic distance. Stage 6 might be a 'reverse' order leg with a 10k run, then 40k bike and finish with a 1.5k swim....and so on

The way the 'stages' and different leg distances are laid out over different courses would significantly impact results, and would make the race very dynamic. E.g. Lange would smash stage 4 above, but Wurf would smash stage 3. Who does the team work for to make sure the lowest cumulative time for one of the team members at the end of all stages? I think this type of week long, or two week long format would be very unpredictable and quite exciting